Major Max Dupain retrospective opens at State Library of NSW
A major retrospective exploring the full breadth of Max Dupain’s photographic career has opened at the State Library of NSW, bringing together almost 200 iconic and lesser-known photographs from one of Australia’s most significant photographic archives.
Definitive Dupain, which opened yesterday, draws on the State Library’s collection of around 250,000 Dupain negatives, along with albums, publications, papers and original prints that the photographer selected for publication during his lifetime.
The free exhibition spans Dupain’s six-decade career, from his early modernist and experimental work through to commercial, fashion, architectural and documentary photography, as well as the more personal images he made while travelling, camping and photographing the natural world.
Among the better-known works on display is Sunbaker, alongside less familiar photographs that offer a broader view of Dupain’s practice.
State Library curator Avryl Whitnall spent five years researching the archive for the exhibition, uncovering previously unseen photographs and experimental works.
“It was both a daunting and exhilarating task,” says Whitnall. “From previously unseen photographs of the Sydney Opera House under construction, to candid moments that even surprised his family, and self-portraits Dupain took throughout his life.”
Other highlights include photographs made during Dupain’s only trip to Europe while documenting the Australian Embassy in Paris, experimental solarisation images, his first published photographs in The Home magazine in 1934, and the so-called ‘Camping Album’ from around 1938.
The exhibition also explores Dupain’s lesser-known interest in photographing flowers, shells and trees, while his Linhof Technika and Rollicord cameras are among the equipment on display.
Interactive and multimedia elements look at the photographic processes of Dupain’s era, including glass-plate negatives and magnesium flash powder.
“I wanted to present the definitive picture of this famous Australian photographer,” Whitnall says. “So, alongside these images – arranged chronologically – visitors will meet Dupain and hear his own words from throughout his working life.”
The exhibition arrives shortly after the publication of Max Dupain: A Portrait by photography historian and writer Helen Ennis, which won the $25,000 2026 National Biography Award earlier this month.
Ennis also contributes an essay to the companion publication, Definitive Dupain, alongside Whitnall and Magnum photographer Trent Parke. Published by Thames & Hudson, the book brings together more than 250 images from the State Library collection.
Dupain (1911–1992) is best known for Sunbaker, but his career encompassed a much wider range of photography, including portraiture, advertising, fashion, nudes, architecture and documentary work.
His wartime photographs from the Northern Territory and New Guinea, as well as his personal images of the Australian landscape, form another important part of the archive.
The exhibition provides an opportunity to look beyond the familiar images and consider the range of work produced across Dupain’s long career.
Definitive Dupain is free to visit at the State Library of NSW from 24 August 2026 until July 2027.